You’re going to hear a lot this month about The Rip, a new Netflix original movie that reunites Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.
But the reviews haven’t come in on that one yet, and the film that caught our eye this month was Bone Lake.
This independently produced thriller was briefly released in theaters last October to good word of mouth, and it looks intriguing.
On behalf of Watch With Us, Bone Lake is my pick for the one new-to-Netflix movie that I can’t wait to watch in January 2026.
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‘Bone Lake’ Has a High Score on Rotten Tomatoes
Good reviews don’t necessarily guarantee a good movie, since criticism is always subjective. But Bone Lake has an impressive 83 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes. That’s from a sampling of 90 reviews, so it’s not just a handful of outlets propping it up into the higher bracket.
Paste‘s Jim Vorel described it as “a raunchy throwback thriller with no aversion to cheese” and called it “wickedly entertaining.” RogerEbert.com‘s Brian Tallerico said that it “feels like a European relationship drama for about an hour before exploding in remarkably bloody chaos.” That sounds like my kind of movie.
It’s an Erotic Thriller Crossed With a Horror Flick
Much like Zach Cregger‘s Barbarian, Bone Lake starts with an online booking gone wrong. Rather than follow that film’s lead, director Mercedes Bryce Morgan and screenwriter Joshua Friedlander go off in their own direction. Two couples — Sage (Maddie Hasson) & Diego (Marco Pigossi) and Will (Alex Roe) & Cin (Andra Nechita) — find themselves double-booked at a remote vacation house. Rather than clash over it, the two couples decide to share the space.
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That’s a very familiar setup for a horror flick, but Will and Cin seem to be more focused on individually seducing Sage and Diego, respectively. The tension that arises seems to be centered on whether Sage or Diego will give in to the temptation when their own partners are relatively nearby. Diego certainly looks tempted by Cin in the clip above, while Sage seems less enthralled by Will’s attempt to get her to give in to lust. If I had to guess which one is the weak link between Sage and Diego, I’d bet on the latter.
It Has a Bloody Conclusion
A common refrain among the reviews is that Bone Lake is a horror movie, and it will eventually get to the point where the knives come out, so to speak. One of the clips listed above relates the history of Bone Lake and its reputation as a dumping ground for a killer’s victims. It turns out that wasn’t an urban legend after all.
I’ve seen enough horror films to guess how the conclusion of this movie is going to go. But the film’s combination of genres looks like a fresh take on both. That’s why I’ve got this flick primed on my watch list for later this week.
Bone Lake will stream on Netflix on January 15.
